henryrich

Hey folks I am new to the board. I want to say first that I am very grateful for this forum and all the information it has already provided to me. Thanks!

My girlfreind and I are about to move in to a new house with 4 acres of rolling grassy hills just a bit north of Asheville, NC. It seem perfect for a large garden and .. perhaps some BEES! I may not 'bee' prepared to start a hive/s this season but I am thinking about it. here are a few questions I am hoping someone might be able to answer:

Is it ok to use used hives? ( possibility of disease? even if there have been no bees in them for years?)

How about used smokers/protective suits? (any reason I shouldnt save a few bucks?)

there are several beekeepers in the area.. should I try and acquire a queen and bees from them? or order them via mail..?

Welcom to the fray! The problem with used boxes is as you suspect American Foulbrood spores can hang around for as many as 50 years. However you can have them irradiated (treated with radiation) which kills the spores.

Used frames with drawn comb not only have the AFB problem, but also chemicals used in hive management tend to accumulate in the wax. So you may have a buildup of all the chemicals that the previous owner has used over the years (may also be the reason said person wants to get rid of said frames).

There is however no reason why you should not be able to pick up and use a second hand smoker, veil, jacket etc. It all depends on the conditions of these items. ie. you don't want a used bee jacket with a bunch of holes in it kinda defeats the purpose!

With all this in mind and money in hand, go check out the prices of a bunch of different bee equipment suppliers and see what these things cost new. The little bit you save may not be worth the usable years that have been taken off the equipment . Good luck!

Logged

By the rude bridge that arched the floodTheir flag to Aprils breeze unfurledHere once the embattled farmers stoodAnd fired the shot heard round the world-Emerson

I read Beekeeping for dummies back in the fall and when I was finishes with the book I felt I had learned a lot, then I found this forum and it seems seems a bit of what I learned from the book differs from what a lot of people in this forum talk about. I also would like to know of a good book, but this site has been the most helpful. I told my wife last night that I feel like I eliminated 5 years of trial and error just by talking with people in this site. Hopefully I am going to move to Ashville, NC when I win the HGTV Home Giveaway :D

the dunnies book is good and the title is what got me to buy it but I don't like the idea of " dummies ", There are many dummy books on a lot of subjects and it's marketing ploy so...

Sue Hubbell's book is a narrative of her experiences as a beekeeper in MO and really not a very good " how to " book although it is very well written and an easy read.

Roger Morse has some good books availavble.

I have others but I loaned them out and don't recall the exact titles.

You can find all the information you need on these boards if you follow up on the many many links posted and print the offerings. You can really create your own manual if you so desire. Spending some time going back to the first threads will reveal that the same questions pop up over and over, including yours. Worth while though.

www.beesource.com is a competitor ? of this board but does have a wealth of info just for the clicking.

Finally the two bibles of the bee world " The ABC-XYZ and The Hive and the Honey are of course very good. Not really needed though with this medium, the internet available.

I wouldn' t spend any money for videos unless you have a bundle-o-bucs.Usually bee clubs have the videos in their library for member use???